Ukraine<\/a>. He ran away from battle, got captured and was sent back to the front. His commander, a Chechen, barked commands from a radio.<\/p>\nNikita told Lietunov to strip and searched his clothes and belt in the hope of finding drugs, believing Kremlin propaganda that Ukrainian servicemen were \u201cnarco-maniacs\u201d fitted with secret GPS trackers. On the walls of the dugout were pasted letters from Russian schoolchildren. All were identical.<\/p>\n
He insisted Russia\u2019s army was the best in the world but in reality, Nikita was cold, hungry and alone. Once a day a Mavic drone dropped 250 grams of rations: a packet of porridge, jam and a small bottle of water.<\/p>\n
He suffered from extreme mood swings. \u201cHe would turn into a maniac, put a gun to my forehead and say: \u2018I\u2019m going to kill you right now,\u2019\u201d Lietunov recalled. \u201cI started praying [\u2026] then there is silence. I hear him put the gun down to one side. He just changed his mind in a second. How can I explain it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Lietunov\u2019s brigade \u2013 the 118th \u2013 thought he was most likely dead. Photograph: Alessio Mamo\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Lietunov decided to play dumb. \u201cI could see Nikita was a bit thick but I gave the impression I was the stupid one. I could have run away but I didn\u2019t so he would trust me more,\u201d he said. Lyetunov said he \u201cstarted to lose it\u201d when one of his toes went black with gangrene and asked Nikita to shoot him outside so his body would be seen and returned to his family. \u201cHe got angry and refused. He was afraid to go out because he knew it was dangerous,\u201d the Ukrainian explained.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Lietunov\u2019s brigade \u2013 the 118th \u2013 thought he was most likely dead. His commander broke the news to his mother, Mariia, and said it was \u201c95% certain\u201d her son wouldn\u2019t come back. She fainted. \u201cMy mother is small and frail. She just froze up completely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
By contrast Lietunov\u2019s wife, Alesya \u2013 the couple have a five-year-old son, Andriy \u2013 believed he was still alive. Her husband was an experienced fighter who signed up with the army hours after Vladimir Putin\u2019s February 2022 invasion, served in an air defence platoon and took part in the liberation of Kherson. She continued to send him messages via Telegram.<\/p>\n
Inside the shelter, Nikita gave his prisoner one square of chocolate a day and a bottle cap of water. The Russian started complaining about his miserable conditions: the lack of food, and the fact that he and his fellow soldiers were forced to collect rainwater and \u201cdrink their own piss\u201d. \u201cOne morning he said to me: \u2018Maybe I should surrender to you?\u2019\u201d Lyetunov said. \u201cI replied: \u2018No need.\u2019 But I told him the terms were good: three meals a day, cigarettes, the Geneva convention.\u201d<\/p>\n
This conversation happened five times, Lietunov said. \u201cThen one day we ran out of water. Nikita was really thirsty and said: \u2018I know a spot.\u2019 We went out in the fog and heard a drone buzzing above us. It was Ukrainian. We hung a sign next to a tree. It had my call-sign on it \u2013 Cartman [from the cartoon South Park] \u2013 and brigade number. I got down on my knees, pointed to the sign, and called out that I was a Ukrainian dude.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vadym Lyetunov\u2019s velcro patch with his nickname \u201cCartman\u201d Photograph: Alessio Mamo\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
But his brigade assumed both were Russians and sent another drone to kill them; it crashed. A second kill drone was cancelled only after the commander pulled up Lietunov\u2019s social media accounts and realised the emaciated figure was their lost comrade. Half an hour later another drone appeared. \u201cI thought: \u2018Either this is bang right now, the end, or the start of a new life,\u2019\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
A radio then fell from the drone. \u201cI told them about Nikita and they started asking questions,\u201d Lietunov said. \u201cI tried to hint that they should stop, that I\u2019m the prisoner, not him, and that my life depends on his mood. We ordered food and water straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n
A drone dropped four boil-in-the-bag meals. He told Nikita he was unable to swallow and gave him his share. \u201cWas this manipulation again? Yes. He\u2019d told me that when he was full he was kind,\u201d he explained. There were further deliveries of \u201cnasty\u201d cigarettes. Meanwhile, a Russian drone delivered a booby-trapped bomb \u2013 a log with TNT hidden inside. Nikita was ordered to place it in the forest.<\/p>\n
Up until the last moment, Lietunov said he was unsure if Nikita would actually surrender, or blow him and the dugout up. One Friday fog rolled into their position and a Ukrainian armoured vehicle suddenly appeared. The two men jumped in the back, Lietunov still bootless. \u201cI didn\u2019t believe until the last moment I would get out of there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Previously Nikita has suggested he might try to capture the Ukrainian vehicle and drive it back to his base. In the end, he meekly surrendered and destroyed his phone. When they arrived at the brigade\u2019s HQ, Lietunov said his \u201cpeople\u201d hugged and congratulated him, amazed at his return. He told his senior officer he had promised the Russian he would be well treated.<\/p>\n
Vadym Lyetunov at the Fontanka beach near Odesa Photograph: Alessio Mamo\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Lietunov said the Kremlin had successfully brainwashed Russian soldiers, convincing them they were fighting \u201cfascists\u201d paid for by the US and Europe and did not understand Ukrainians were defending their homeland.<\/p>\n
Nikita was given coffee, adding condensed milk and six spoonfuls of sugar. Two hours later Ukraine\u2019s SBU security service came and took him away. He is likely to be swapped for Ukrainian prisoners of war. Typically, returning Russians are sent back immediately to the frontline. Lietunov had lost a toe and is now on crutches, receiving treatment at a rehabilitation centre after being reunited with his family in Odesa.<\/p>\n
He said he had been extremely lucky to survive. \u201cIt\u2019s a miracle. A one-in-a-million chance, they tell me. I was a prisoner. But in the end I came out with a prisoner, the other way round. It\u2019s rare.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The bombing began the morning after Vadym Lietunov arrived on the frontline. It went on for six or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-563769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}